


Goodnight, Space Unicorns

by Amrynth



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Critmas Exchange, Gen, Nightmares, critmas treat, suggested Caleb/Jester
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:13:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28331427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amrynth/pseuds/Amrynth
Summary: Jester can't sleep and finds solace in her friends.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 10
Collections: Critmas Exchange 2020





	Goodnight, Space Unicorns

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MartiniMayhem](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MartiniMayhem/gifts).



> A Critmas Exchange 2020 treat for martinimayhem!

She turned another corner of the endless tunnels but she could still hear it behind her. Massive footfalls making the ground shake beneath her feet as if relentlessly grew closer. There was nowhere else to run and she was entirely alone. Jester pushed her tears back, gulping air down in great gasps that made her chest burn. All she had to do was make it out and everyone would be there. 

They’d left her behind. It sank in the same time the dragon head came around into the passageway she was trying to hide in; big and square and ravenous. She was going to die alone. Abandoned.

Jester woke up tangled in her blankets, shivering and covered in sweat. She hated those dreams. She hated the empty feeling in her chest, the loneliness she’d worn close like a second skin since she’d been young. She hated knowing that her recurring nightmare was because it had happened. 

Trying not to wake up Beau, Jester untangled herself from her blankets and attempted to settle back in only to stare at the ceiling. It was always impossible to sleep after one of those dreams but she felt more restless than usual. There was only so long she could stare at the ceiling of her shared room in the Xhorhaus before she had to get up and be elsewhere. Laying in sweat-damp sheets quickly became unpleasant when her heart and mind were still unsettled. 

“Jes? Wh’r you going?”

Jester froze in place, caught tiptoeing across their bedroom in her pajamas. Like instinct, a smile slid onto her face and hopefully it was dark enough that Beau wouldn’t see if she was pale. “Go back to sleep Beau, I’m just going to look and see if there are cookies in the kitchen. Sometimes Caduceus leaves cookies and he always puts them in such funny places and it’s sort of like a game we play where he hides the cookies and I look for them, you know?”

There was a pause while Beau, half-asleep, tried to make sense of Jester’s quick words. “Yeah okay man. Find them- you find them cookies.” 

“Go back to sleep, Beau,” she said, padding over to the second bed in the room. She used her tail to pull the blankets back up and kissed the monk lightly on the forehead. “I’ll be here in the morning so you don’t have to worry. Okay?”

“I’zz na’, ‘m no’ worried,” Beau mumbled, already almost asleep again. 

Tucking Beau in eased some of the tightness in Jester’s chest and she thought about going back to bed but now she really was thinking about cookies. And while she could have gone back to bed, she turned on her heel instead and stepped out into the Xhorhaus. It wasn’t her first midnight exploration of their home. Sometimes the only way to settle her brain and make it possible to sleep was to sneak around. It turned out Yasha snored and Jester leaned her ear against the door just to reassure herself that she hadn’t disappeared on them. 

Probably everyone was asleep, but just in case, Jester skipped from Yasha’s door to the stairs. It was much easier to pretend happiness than it was to explain tears. And she just didn’t want to add to the burden any of her friends were already carrying. Jester’s mama had taught her to be strong, she could carry this one herself. 

There was a fire just barely smouldering in the kitchen when Jester arrived, illuminating Caduceus sitting hunched over a mug of tea big enough to use as a bowl. He looked up as Jester entered the room and she quickly found a smile for him. 

“What are you doing up Caduceus?” 

He blinked slowly at her, breathing the steam of his tea while he considered her question. “Now that’s a real interesting question. I was just thinking about home and had a real craving for some of the tea that’s still left from home, you know?” 

It was difficult to really feel sad with Caduceus around and Jester pulled a chair up next to the fire with him. “Is it dead people tea?”

“Oh yeah, definitely. You want some?”

“It doesn’t taste like feet this time does it?” Jester asked, going to get the cookie jar instead and peer inside. 

There wasn’t an immediate, straightforward answer from Caduceus. He tilted his mug to look into it and give it a contemplative sip before answering. “It’s been a while since I’ve tasted anyone’s foot but it does have a very foot-like taste to it. If you want a real comparison, take off your sock and we can find out.”

Jester laughed, a real laugh not one that she put on to keep everyone at arm’s length. “Caduceus, gross, I’m not letting you lick my feet. Lick your own if you want to taste some stinky feet.” 

“Oh no, that never ends well. What has you up right now, Jester?”

Caduceus had a way of looking at her that Jester could tell he knew she was upset about something even if she was eating cookies and laughing. She put another cookie in her mouth as self defense before putting the jar back with three in her hand. 

“Ohhhh you knoooow. I had a funny dream and when I woke up I was like, aw man I could really use some cookies. Do you ever just. Have dreams that make you want cookies?” she asked, breaking one of her cookies in half and eating the smaller half.

“Hmmm. There sure are times where the cookie jar gets depleted overnight,” Caduceus said. It was hard to tell if he took her at face value or was humoring her, he took a lot of things at face value. 

Jester put the second half of the cookie in her mouth. “Oh that’s not me, those are the tiny unicorns. They just love cookies, man.”

“Well, I don’t mind making sure the space unicorns have cookies when they come down,” he responded. 

“You’ve seen space unicorns, Caduceus! Woah man, that sounds really awesome,” Jester said, forgetting she’d been sad for a moment and trying to imagine space unicorns. 

He just smiled, neither confirming nor denying the existence of space unicorns. 

“Well, enjoy your tea, Caduceus,” Jester said, brushing the cookie crumbs off the front of her shirt. 

“You can come ask for cookies anytime you need. Even if it’s not because of a dream,” he said, not rising from his seat but watching her closely. 

Jester paused and glanced at him, then made herself smile. “Thanks Caduceus.” She knew he knew; that she’d had a bad dream and couldn’t go back to sleep immediately. Better Caduceus than anyone else, he wasn’t going to try and get her to talk about it. He carried his own burdens as well, keeping them close and his own. 

She wasn’t skipping as she returned to the second floor of the Xhorhaus, putting one last cookie into her mouth as she arrived on the second floor. As she turned the corner toward her and Beau’s room, Caleb came around the corner from the opposite direction. If Jester was startled to find the wizard up and out of bed, it was nothing compared to Caleb’s start on seeing her. 

“Jester,” he closed the book in his hands, blinking at her.

“Shh everyone is sleeping, Caleb. You have to whisper,” she informed him, whispering loud enough to carry to where he stood several feet down the hall from her. She waved him closer with one hand.

Caleb closed the distance between them, holding his book like a shield between the two of them. When he spoke his voice had dropped to a whisper, looking down at her with a crease between his brows. “What are you doing up Jester?”

“Oh, I was just downstairs eating some cookies, sometimes I just like to get cookies in the night. It seems like everyone is up tonight, what were you doing on the roof?” she whispered, quiet enough that Caleb had to lean closer to hear.

“I wanted to check the alignment of the stars for a spell,” Caleb said.

“Did you see any space unicorns?” Jester made sure her voice sounded serious, widening her eyes as she looked up at Caleb. 

It worked in that it made Caleb smile. “Space unicorns?”

“Just little ones,” she explained, raising a hand to indicate just how small they were. “But you can see them at night sometimes.”

“No, I am afraid I did not see any space unicorns,” he said, still smiling. 

“Oh. Well maybe next time wake me up when you want to go looking at stars and I will come with you. You can measure things and I’ll watch for the unicorns, you know?”

Caleb blushed pink across his cheeks and suddenly seemed to become very aware of how close they were standing to one another, Jester with her back against her bedroom door. He cleared his throat and took a large step back, raising his book again so it was definitely between them. 

“Yes. Well. Goodnight Jester. I hope that you sleep well,” he said, now avoiding eye contact even though he’d been smiling so gently moments before. 

“Goodnight, Caleb.”

She watched him walk away and caught the moment where he looked back before descending the stairs, waving before he disappeared. Jester was careful to close the door so quiet behind her not to wake Beau a second time. She slid into her bed and gazed at the ceiling, letting thoughts of her friends and cookies and space unicorns draw her into a dreamless sleep.


End file.
